Opal's Wish: Book Four of The Crystal Warriors Series (7 page)

“Zip your lip, dude,” Desiree said, hands on hips, looking fierce and ready to kick butt, and not at all intimidated by the way Dan was scowling. “We’re not interested in your half-assed opinions right now. You said Sera was ‘ailing’. Did she get sick? Quit dicking around and spit it out.”

Thank God Desiree had her head in the game. Opal stiffened her spine and confronted the man she should be thanking, not lusting after and hating in equal measure for uttering nothing but the truth. “T-T-Tell me what h-h-happened. N-n-now.”

Before he could answer Sera stirred. “Mommy,” she murmured.

“H-H-hush, baby. L-L-Let’s get you to b-b-b-bed.”

Sera yawned and blinked sleep-bleared eyes. “Where’s Dan?”

“The handsome— Uh, he’s right here, Sera,” Desiree said.

Opal knew her friend been about to blurt that less-than-flattering nickname again and felt the insane desire to laugh. Talk about appalling timing. The stress was really getting to her.

Sera twisted in Opal’s arms to fix her curious gaze on Desiree. “Wow,” she said. “You’re real pretty.” Another yawn. “You must be a real model, huh? My mommy used to be a real model. But that was a long time ago. Before I was born and stuff.”

“I know, sweetie,” Desiree said. “Your mom told me all about it.”

Well, not
all
. Not the incident that made Opal wish pop songs could help her get to sleep at night like they helped Sera. Unfortunately some memories were so bad nothing could suppress them.

“Hey, Sera,” Desiree said. “Your friend Dan mentioned you weren’t feeling well earlier on, and we’re a bit worried about you. Wanna tell us what happened?”

Sera sighed. “Do I have to?”

Desiree’s gaze flicked to Opal. “Yes,” she said. “Now would be good, sweetie. The night’s not getting any younger.”

Another sigh—this one loud and drawn out and completely Oscar-worthy. That urge to laugh was back again. Sera could be such a drama queen at times.

“Okay,” Sera said. “I guess got upset ’coz Ryan—that’s Liza’s boyfriend—was being so mean. And Liza kept laughing so I got mad at her and she sent my to my room and I slammed the door. And then I wished on my crystal but I dropped it and it broke so I got even more upset. I was so mad at Liza I didn’t call out for her. And I guess I left it too long to get my inhaler and I had a little bit of an asthma attack. It wasn’t too bad, though. I’m sorry, Mommy.” She buried her face in Opal’s shoulder and hugged her tight.

Guilt clamped Opal’s chest. She opened her mouth to reassure her daughter that none of this was her fault, that she had nothing to be sorry about, but Dan beat her to it.

“You have nothing to be sorry about, Sera. Your mother should never have left you alone. It was irresponsible.”

Desiree snorted. Loudly. “Oh please, spare us the sermon. You need get your head out of your ass and get real, Dan. Opal had every expectation Sera would be well cared for when she took this gig at the last minute—as a favor for someone else, I might add. This Liz girl was recommended as a reliable sitter. Unfortunately she chose tonight to let her teenage hormones get the better of her. This situation could have happened to anyone.”

Dan crossed his hands over his impressive chest, drawing Opal’s full attention to his attire. Shit-kickers, leather pants and a leather vest—what was with that?

Desiree must have been plugged into Opal’s thoughts because she slanted Opal classic WTF? eyes before turning her full focus to Dan again.

“It was no minor attack,” Dan said. “The child was unable to breathe. If I’d understood there was medicine available I would have given it to her immediately. Instead, I was forced to improvise and hope for the best.”

“Dan ran the hot tap in the bathroom so it got all steamy,” Sera said. “And he rubbed my back and breathed with me until I was okay.”

Opal squeezed her eyelids shut against the censure in this stranger’s gaze. If he hadn’t been there for Sera….

“And where was this young paragon of reliability she trusted to look after her child while this was happening?” His tone dripped acid, and Opal was glad she’d shut her eyes so she couldn’t see his expression. “In
her
bed, being tupped like a wh— ” She heard him counting beneath his breath. “In bed with her young man. Oblivious to Sera’s distress. If I hadn’t escaped the crystal when I did—”

She opened her eyes in time to witness the horror in his expression that mirrored her own. Without Sera, what was the point of fighting the past anymore? She pushed back the wave of terror at the thought of losing her daughter.

“Escaped the crystal? You seriously want us to believe that you came out of a fricking
crystal
?” Desiree had pounced on Dan’s unusual phrasing. She wasn’t giving him an inch. And much as Opal wanted to know exactly what had gone on in her absence, she also wanted this confrontation to be over. She wanted nothing more than to tuck Sera into bed and lay beside her until she fell asleep. And then crawl into her own bed… and figure out how to give Stella North the bad news, because no way was Opal leaving Sera with another sitter after this.

“Come to think of it, Dan,” Desiree was saying when Opal tuned in again, “why did you crash this party in the first place? Did the old guy next door ask you to check in on Sera or something?”

Dan shook his head.

“Huh. No way someone who just happened to be strolling past the house could have known Sera was having an asthma attack, so how come—?”

“It’s true,” Sera insisted, and wriggled until Opal set her on her feet. “Mr. Stone gave me a wishing crystal. I was supposed to give it to you, Mommy, but I wished for Dan. And when the crystal broke he came out and helped me.”

Opal squatted on her haunches and took her daughter by the shoulders, willing her to listen. “S-S-Sweetheart—”

“It’s true, Mommy. Tell her, Dan!”

The vehemence in Sera’s voice about broke Opal’s heart. Damn Peter Stone for filling her daughter’s head with fairytale nonsense about a dratted hunk of stone. Obviously she needed to have a talk with him sooner rather than later.

And damn
this
man, too, for pretending it was all true and feeding a little girl’s wild dreams. Wishes didn’t come true. You got dealt a crap hand and you had to figure out how to live with it. Life wasn’t a fairytale, and happy-ever-afters were for storybooks. There was a logical explanation for all this. She just needed to get to the bottom of it. Later.

“’Tis true.” Dan’s full lips compressed into a stubborn, uncompromising line. “I was imprisoned in the crystal for centuries. And then Seraphine—” He sucked in a sharp breath and dug his fingertips into his temples.

Opal winced in sympathy. If that grimace and those deeply etched lines across his forehead were anything to go on he was suffering a killer migraine.

“And then?” Desiree’s unsympathetic tone left no doubt she expected an answer.

“She called me from the crystal,” Dan said.

“Who did?”

“Seraphine.” His eyes rolled up until only the whites showed. He gave a hoarse moan and crumpled.

“Dan!” Sera lunged toward the stricken man but Opal grabbed her arm, hauling her in for a tight hug, attempting to shield Sera if her “friend” had suffered something devastating—an aneurism or the like.

“Ssshhh, Sera. C-C-Calm down.” Easier said than done, Opal knew.
She
wasn’t the least bit calm. Her heart was thudding like she’d run a record-breaking mile. And the thought of this beautiful, arrogant, hard-as-nails man struck down by some unseen affliction, maybe even
dying
before her eyes, made her feel frosty-cold and shivery like she’d never be warm again.

Desiree had dropped to her knees and pressed her fingers to Dan’s throat. She snagged Opal’s gaze and gave her a thumbs up. “Out cold,” she said. “Pulse is strong. Everything seems okay but hey, what do I know? Better get him checked out.”

“Dan! Daa-aa-an!”

Sera’s sobs sounded like her little heart was breaking, and joined the chaos churning in Opal’s head. She patted her daughter’s back and made soothing noises… that weren’t having the desired effect because Sera’s hiccups had morphed to hacking coughs interspersed with ominous little whoops.

“I-I-Inhaler,” she said for Desiree’s benefit as she lurched to her feet with Sera in her arms and headed for her daughter’s bedroom.

The inhaler was in the top drawer. Opal snatched it and shook it. Almost full because she’d recently refilled the prescription. No reason to panic. She perched on the edge of the bed and maneuvered Sera so she would be upright as possible. “H-H-Here, sweetie.”

Sera knew the drill. She fastened her lips around the inhaler while Opal gave it one sharp puff timed with Sera’s attempt to inhale.

A pause while Sera coughed and wheezed. Another puff….

Opal shoved down the panic and the crippling fear, and steeled herself for the inevitable waiting game. Just as she was beginning to relax, Sera had another coughing fit. Numerous harrowing nights spent listening to her daughter’s whooping breaths left her in no doubt the inhaler hadn’t done its job. She suspected Sera had worn herself out during the earlier attack and was now overwhelmed by everything that had happened these past few hours.

Opal had no choice. It was going to be a long, painfully expensive night.

She weighed the pros and cons of somehow loading an unconscious Dan into the vehicle Desiree had borrowed, and driving him and Sera to the nearest E.R. She could leave him there—let the professionals figure out what was wrong with him… and what to do with him. He was a stranger. It wasn’t like she owed him anything. Right?

Except she did owe him—everything she had to give and more. If he hadn’t intruded, Sera might have died while Liza and her fricking boyfriend were getting it on in the next room. Plus, Sera saw Dan not only as her savior, but a friend. And she would only fret and work herself into a worse state imagining what might have happened to him.

Opal carried Sera back into the living room. “You should head back to Brooklyn, Desiree. I don’t want you getting in trouble with the event organizers for going AWOL.” Her stutter had vanished again—some small mercy given the circumstances. Odds on it would return, though. And it was likely that by the time she got Sera to the hospital, Opal wouldn’t be capable of uttering even a peep.

Desiree’s beautiful face twisted into a scowl. “And what are you going to do, may I ask?”

“The only thing I can do. Call the emergency line and tell the dispatcher I’ve got an unconscious stranger in my living room, and that my daughter needs urgent face time with a nebulizer.” At least, that’s what she tried to say but the words got mangled during delivery.

Desiree seemed to have a knack for interpreting barely comprehensible words and phrases. She chewed her lip. “I’m hazarding a guess a night in hospital isn’t exactly in the budget. Wouldn’t be surprised our handsome asshole’s in the same boat. Friend of mine works at a free clinic not too far from here. I’ll give him a ring and get him or one of his colleagues down here, stat.”

Sera coughed and sagged against Opal’s chest, and Opal abruptly lost the will to argue. What an unholy mess. Hot tears stung her eyes, tracked down her cheeks. Another wave of guilt shrouded her. She should never have tried to break out of her shell and attempt something daring, something fun. Something just for herself. It wasn’t worth it.

Desiree’s arms came about her in a brief but fierce hug. “It’s okay to ask for help, honey. You don’t have to do it all on your own. Let me help you. Please.”

“Th-Th-thanks.” She sank into the battered easy chair catty-corner from the couch and settled Sera in her lap, angling her so Sera couldn’t see Dan lying there on the scuffed wooden floorboards. A whooping breath from Sera was followed by another fit of coughing that seemed to go on forever. Opal had never felt so useless as she patted Sera’s back and tried to get her to calm her breathing.

“Dan,” Sera whispered and coughed again.

“Ssshhh. D-D-Don’t try to t-t-talk.”

Desiree tucked her mobile into her pants and perched on the arm of Opal’s chair. “I’ve called my doctor-friend, Sera. He’ll look after Dan, and you, too. I promise. Just try to stay calm until he gets here. He was at home, so he’s only a few minutes away. Not long now.”

“Not long now” was pure hell. Even five minutes of listening to Sera struggle to catch her breath between bouts of coughing seemed like a lifetime.

A groan snatched their attention. Opal turned her head in time to see Dan pushing himself up from the floor. He leaned against the couch, resting his forearms on his bent knees. “Gods.” He grunted and cleared his throat. “Who hit me?”

“No one,” Desiree told him, sarcasm lacing her voice. “You were giving us a bunch of BS about a crystal when you went down like someone smacked you upside the head with a brick.”

Before Opal could prod her sluggish brain to react, Sera slid from her lap and crawled over to Dan. Opal tensed, poised to launch herself from her seat, but Desiree clutched her arm. “Wait. He might be able to calm her down until Roth gets here.”

Opal didn’t much like the idea. Her instincts were screaming that Dan was a huge unknown quantity. But right now she had few choices, so she’d suck it up and do whatever it took to help Sera through this. But if he scared Sera or hurt her in any way, she’d… she’d… do something drastic.

“What is wrong, little one?” Dan asked.

Sera’s reply was drowned in a series of whoops and coughs. Opal clutched her thighs and forced herself to remain still. The concern in the big man’s gaze, his gentle care as he scooped Sera up and settled her in his lap with her head resting against his chest, had to be genuine. No one could be that good of an actor.

He thumbed the tears from Sera’s face. “Are you having trouble breathing again?”

She nodded.

“Did you take the medicine?”

Another nod.

“Did it not work, then?”

A head shake and a sob.

Opal curled her fingers into tight fists. Her short-clipped nails cut into her palms.

“We have done this before, little one. Remember?” Dan’s whole focus was on Sera. “Breathe with me, Sera. In. And out. In. And out.”